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Saturday, October 21, 2017

Third Frugal Week October 2017

The weather here has finally turned cooler, so we've turned off the air conditioner for the time being and opened up the house and it feels terrific. Resting on the couch with a blanket feels good, I love this time of year. :)

We went to several yard sales on Saturday the 14th. We found some cute material and my daughter wanted me to make her more pads out of it. I have a feeling anything cute she comes across she will want pads out of it. (I'm ok with that)

On Sunday I cashed out some of MyPoints and redeemed them for a $50 PayPal credit. I can either transfer the $50 to my checking account to pay bills with or keep it in my PayPal account for Christmas money.

MyPoints is easier to me than Swagbucks. I just started using MyPoints again earlier in the summer and only spend a few minutes each day there. I like the fact that I already earned enough for $50 from them.

Other Frugal Things We Did This Week...

I did not buy any souvenirs in the gift shop at the zoo this week. We went in and looked at what they had to offer because looking does not cost anything, but we didn't buy anything because we didn't need anything they had.

If you recall one of my New Year's goals the past two years has been to avoid consumerism. This cartoon I saw recently reminded me of my goal.

Filtered tap water with ice is our preferred drink every day. I have plenty of other drinks to make on hand like hot or cold tea, lemonade, Kool-Aid, Sprite, juice, but water is the most frugal option and I like how it makes me feel.

I perused the grocery store ads on Thursday to see if there were any good bargains to pick up this week. There were only a couple of good deals, nothing to write home about.

I stayed home on Thursday and Friday and spent no money, which was nice after the birthday outings this week. I made a chicken pot pie for dinner on Thursday and baked meatless spaghetti with steamed broccoli on the side for dinner on Friday, which were both frugal meals.

Gas prices have finally come back down to where they were before Hurricane Harvey hit Texas. Gas is now back at $1.89 per gallon here in SE Tennessee.

We ventured out to multiple yard sales on the 21st and only found things my daughter can resell. She has a good little business running and pays for her own gas and car insurance, and anything else she needs. I looked but didn't find anything I needed.

The electric bill came on Saturday and it's down to $175, which is down from $223 last month. Turning off the air conditioning has been a real money saver.

We did stop at Earth Fair while we were in Chattanooga and bought some honey, which we needed. I also stopped at the Bread Outlet and picked up two loaves of Nature's Own Honey Wheat bread for 79¢ each.

Sounds like a nice frugal week. Our gas prices still aren't quite back to pre hurricane prices yet. Getting close - but...Don't you just love it when nothing jumps out and says "buy me"? We all have so much stuff.May you have a blessed week.

Hi, Belinda and Happy Birthday to Bailey. My comment would not post for your previous blog. My problem, I think.

$50 from My Points: Clap/Clap.

Filtered water drinking = Happy Time for me, too.

Bailey making money with her yard sale buys = WTG.

Our vehicle gas cost is similar to yours, but our electricity is lower.

For our 2-story, open throughout, 1550 square-foot-house, electric is considerably lower than your cost. Everything for warm weather is electric except water heater, and our air conditioner has been set at 74* with ceiling fans used all summer. Can't accurately compare utility bills without every little detail, can we?

During the years spent getting debt free, I checked gas and electric meters daily at 4 p. m. for usage. Then, I studied how electric and gas had been consumed during the past 24 hours. I re-learned to cook and bake efficiently, which can make all the difference.

Thank you, Anna. I will be sure to tell Bailey. I think our electric bill is high here too, it is 100% electric house though, ours was only $60 per month when we lived in Pikeville, this house is big though, it's like two houses in one, unfortunately.

Definitely takes a lot of managing. I would love to air dry our clothes, but my daughter loves using the dryer instead. She is so good at so many other things that help me out that I can't really complain about that. :)

Have you considered selling some of the pads you make? Not sure how much time each one takes, and I know you couldn't sell them cheap, but you could make at least a few dollars each and it could add up. I was planning to make some, but my husband has become disabled and with a full time job that we really need, I haven't found the time.Take care.

I have considered selling them, Patti. My daughter wants me to open up an online shop to sell things like that, so we are going to work on this sometime in the future. Thank you for the suggestion. :) I hope you and your dh are able to make it, I know how hard that can be.

Thank you Belinda, what a thoughtful thing to say. We will make it. My job is high stress, but provides well, so aside from some extra crankiness, we will do okay and should be able to continue to defer $ into my 401k. That is important in your fifties!I would love to see your online shop. Take care.

You have lower gas prices than we do, by quite a bit. Around here, I'm really happy if I see $2.39, and that's a lot lower than it was not long ago. It's been a long, long time since it dipped below $2 around here. But, maybe it will--there's always hope! Gas is something we use a lot of--we drive a lot.

We drive a lot here too, Becky. I drive 11 or 13 miles to school depending on which school I'm at and dd drives 20 miles to school, so double that to get back home. Plau we live in a rural area so everything takes longer to get to than urban areas. We're used to it though.